Requested "special" pictures of my 1,200 mile TTA - Enjoy!

[Jan Larsson]

Hmm this is weird. I can't see GM letting anything out of their plants without a vin number stamped on it. I was also lucky enough to be in a machine shop that had 12 turbo buick engines on stands. There was several TTA blocks on the stands. The person took the time to show me the difference between the GN blocks and the TTA blocks. He also showed me the vin stamped on the block in the same place the GN's were stamped. I can confirm this because there was a hard top cloth TTA sitting outside and the engine I was looking at was the block out of that car. The vin was stamped right in it and it matched the vin on the dash. I think you have some incorrect information there Jan! Now your gonna make me crawl under the car and take a pic of the vin on the block!

GM didn't put the engines in there

Anyway I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure someone told me this and also verified it .... I got my block at the machine shop but I'm pretty sure (and I took plenty of pictures) that my block did not have the VIN stamped but on the other hand my TTA got 100.000 miles on it and 3 possibly 4 owners that been tinkering with it over the years.

Julio, you seen enough of these engines any comments?

 

[phillyturbosix]

Somewhere along the line someone must have put one of those non vin'd blocks in your car I guess Jan. I sure hope someone didn't grind it off! It's punched right in the block. It's a different font then the GN's vin but in the same place. Pontiac most likely had them stamped before they went to PAS or PAS punched the vin in there but GM would never let a car leave any plant without a vin number in it. That's the way it's done in the states.

 

[Jan Larsson]

Somewhere along the line someone must have put one of those non vin'd blocks in your car I guess Jan. I sure hope someone didn't grind it off! It's punched right in the block. It's a different font then the GN's vin but in the same place. Pontiac most likely had them stamped before they went to PAS or PAS punched the vin in there but GM would never let a car leave any plant without a vin number in it. That's the way it's done in the states.

Were exactly should I be looking for this? I got a picture of the mounting pad for the starter but does not look like something been punched in there?

 

[mytta49]

Were exactly should I be looking for this? I got a picture of the mounting pad for the starter but does not look like something been punched in there?

Look near the grey oil filler cap

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

MAN is that tta so clean. perfect candidate to yank that engine, and throw a SBC in it.

I envy that car. One day Ill have one too. (hopefully) I love mint, stock cars.

 

[phillyturbosix]

Jan here is a picture of the vin on my GN block when I had it out being rebuilt a few years ago. It's in the same place on the TTA's. Like I said I was in a shop where a guy had a bunch of TTA blocks and GN blocks on stands and he showed me the 2 different vins and where they were stamped. You can't read the numbers in this pic but you can see them there. EVERY block that was installed from the factory has the vin stamped there on all GN's and TTA's. Let's hope someone did'nt put a hot block in your car at one time! That happned ALOT around here. I remember back in late 80's seeing GN engines in all kinda different stuff!

 

[Sweet6]

Do the transmissions have VINs on them?

 

[phillyturbosix]

yes. Drivers side just above the pan towards the back. There is a flat spot with the vin on it.

 

[Jan Larsson]

Jan here is a picture of the vin on my GN block when I had it out being rebuilt a few years ago. It's in the same place on the TTA's. Like I said I was in a shop where a guy had a bunch of TTA blocks and GN blocks on stands and he showed me the 2 different vins and where they were stamped. You can't read the numbers in this pic but you can see them there. EVERY block that was installed from the factory has the vin stamped there on all GN's and TTA's. Let's hope someone did'nt put a hot block in your car at one time! That happned ALOT around here. I remember back in late 80's seeing GN engines in all kinda different stuff!

Thx Jim, the picture I got of my engine block in that area is not very good but looks like there might be something stamped there .... I will have to confimr when I get my block back from the machine shop

 

[Midwest Muscle]

Okay - I'll sleep better tonight!! I jacked the car up, and sure enough the engine VIN is there and it matches the car. My wife thought I was nuts going over there at 7:30 when it was 24 degrees outside. Thankfully the storage facility itself is heated.

That number is super hard to see, and I don't think I managed to actually get a good picture. By the time I got the camera in that tight space, it would be out of focus when I snapped it. But I saw it, and confirmed it's right. It looked to be "KL + 6 digits" format, and you had to really lay still to see it.

I wish I would have checked the post about the tranmissions having a VIN before I left. Now I'll have to go over and check that later

Mike M

 

[phillyturbosix]

Thx Jim, the picture I got of my engine block in that area is not very good but looks like there might be something stamped there .... I will have to confimr when I get my block back from the machine shop

Yea there is something stamped there.. your vin like I've been saying all along you crazy sob!!!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :tongue: :tongue: They always told me there was something in the water on "that" side of the pond!!

 

[phillyturbosix]

Okay - I'll sleep better tonight!! I jacked the car up, and sure enough the engine VIN is there and it matches the car. My wife thought I was nuts going over there at 7:30 when it was 24 degrees outside. Thankfully the storage facility itself is heated.

That number is super hard to see, and I don't think I managed to actually get a good picture. By the time I got the camera in that tight space, it would be out of focus when I snapped it. But I saw it, and confirmed it's right. It looked to be "KL + 6 digits" format, and you had to really lay still to see it.

I wish I would have checked the post about the tranmissions having a VIN before I left. Now I'll have to go over and check that later

Mike M

Good work Mike! It is hard to snap a pic as you see mine was on a engine stand and I still could not get it in focus! Also while your under taking a peak at the trans on the passenger side of the trans should be a blue tag. Each one of these transmissions were hand built. Some people use to think the numbers on there told you the build number but they do NOT. Here is a break down of the trans tag...

000 - JULIAN DATE (OR DAY OF YEAR)
SHIFT BUILD
1 = FIRST SHIFT
2 = SECOND SHIFT
3 = THIRD SHIFT
T = THREE RIVERS
89 - MODEL YEAR (89 = 1989)
XXX - MODEL
0000 - SERIAL NUMBER

That trans tag is also a bugger to take a picture of.

 

[Jan Larsson]

Yea there is something stamped there.. your vin like I've been saying all along you crazy sob!!!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :tongue: :tongue: They always told me there was something in the water on "that" side of the pond!!

Yeh I should learn to listen to you more often Jim Must be the vodka .... http://www.jibjab.com/jokebox/jokebox/jibjab/id/321790/jokeid/86670

For the transmission I know you are right :wink: seen that one with my own eyes

 

[phillyturbosix]

Since your block might not be original Jan have someone do a car fax on the vin that's on the block. Maybe it was from a rare one! Then send it into PHS and show off both car numbers! Since the left over's of one is living in your engine bay!

 

[Midwest Muscle]

Jim, I'm all researched out today - Thanks a ton for your knowledge, and your willingness to share it!

I checked the transmission, good to go on the VIN. It's actually a little easier to see than the engine, but still tough to get a picture of.

The blue tag is cool too - Thanks for the decoding info. I would have never known what all those numbers stood for. Not sure how people could have thought their build number was in there, unless it was an incredible coincidence for a handful of owners.

Thanks again - I feel much smarter that I did this morning ... You can teach this old dog new tricks

Mike M

 

[phillyturbosix]

LOL no problem Mike glad I could help. That's what these boards are all about! I learned from them and I try to pass on what I know. I'm one of those guys who buys a car and I research it as much as I can. I go to alot of car shows and nothing worse then someone coming up asking a question and not knowing the answers. When I'm at shows people are amazed at the knowlede I picked up in a few years on these cars. Also if you didn't do it already don't forget the TTA do have their own spot on the web. Turbo Trans AM.Com and while your there send the info on your car into the TTA registry! .....:::::Turbo Trans Am Registry:::::.....

 

[Razor]

GM didn't put the engines in there

Anyway I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure someone told me this and also verified it .... I got my block at the machine shop but I'm pretty sure (and I took plenty of pictures) that my block did not have the VIN stamped but on the other hand my TTA got 100.000 miles on it and 3 possibly 4 owners that been tinkering with it over the years.

Julio, you seen enough of these engines any comments?

I have two TTA engines, both have stampings.

HTH

 

[Jan Larsson]

I was not aware of this decal myself. This is the first time I had seen it..

- Dave

So to come back to the coil back sticker. Just had a look in the book "The Best of Hot Rod Magazine" and on page 78-80 theres the article where they test drive the pilot hardtop (not sure what issue this might have been in but would expect Hot Rod end of 88 sometime, can dig mine out if no one else know). The picture of the engine bay clearly shows a coil pack with the V6 Turbo sticker on it like you have Mike .... wonder if some TTAs actually did get this as parts were left over from the GN's??

Also on page 80 they show a picture of the IC scoop opening under the car and it clearly looks different from ours also seems to be another air hole on the driver side possibly for cooling the brakes?

 

[Quiky One]

So to come back to the coil back sticker. Just had a look in the book "The Best of Hot Rod Magazine" and on page 78-80 theres the article where they test drive the pilot hardtop (not sure what issue this might have been in but would expect Hot Rod end of 88 sometime, can dig mine out if no one else know). The picture of the engine bay clearly shows a coil pack with the V6 Turbo sticker on it like you have Mike .... wonder if some TTAs actually did get this as parts were left over from the GN's??

Also on page 80 they show a picture of the IC scoop opening under the car and it clearly looks different from ours also seems to be another air hole on the driver side possibly for cooling the brakes?

Could you scan that article for us all? Thanks!

Jason

 

[phillyturbosix]

So to come back to the coil back sticker. Just had a look in the book "The Best of Hot Rod Magazine" and on page 78-80 theres the article where they test drive the pilot hardtop (not sure what issue this might have been in but would expect Hot Rod end of 88 sometime, can dig mine out if no one else know). The picture of the engine bay clearly shows a coil pack with the V6 Turbo sticker on it like you have Mike .... wonder if some TTAs actually did get this as parts were left over from the GN's??

Also on page 80 they show a picture of the IC scoop opening under the car and it clearly looks different from ours also seems to be another air hole on the driver side possibly for cooling the brakes?

The coil pack on these cars was a common failure as you can tell Mike's went bad on a 1200 mile car and was replaced. Seems allot of them failed in the first few years. Mike confirmed the original owner has the original coil pack off the car with no stickers on it. So just like the one you saw in Hot Rod it most likely went bad and they used one from a GN. It was common back then to find those stickers on any GN coil pack. I'm sure Pontiac or PAS would not let something like that slip by quaility control. If all didn't have those stickers none would. Someone would have just taken them off even. For the price of the TTA's new back then the last thing they would have wanted was people thinking they were using old parts on the cars. If I bought a car new in 89, paid all that money for it, and the sticker on the coil pack (a common fail part) said 1987 I'd be pissed off big time!